Reflection-+Memoirs

Topic
toc ESSENTIAL QUESTION: How do the events in your life tell a story?
 * Memoirs **

This unit 1) Initially approaching and surveying a text 2) Using questions to examine the text’s topic, information, and structure 3) Questioning further to investigate the text 4) Analyzing key details and language to deepen understanding 5) Explaining what one has come to understand as a reader
 * I. allows students to recognize and appreciate the effective use of literary devices in nonfiction narratives and develop the skills and habits of a close reader**:


 * II. exposes students to memoirs and look for common techniques, such as the emphasis on a particularly significant event or time period in the author's life.**

Common Core Standards
central ideas and supporting details, and assess author’s point of view – while attending to and citing specific textual evidence. explicitly as well as inferences drawn from the text. including how it emerges and is shaped and refined by specific details; provide an objective summary of the text.
 * RI.1, RI.2, and RI.6**: read closely to determine literal and inferential meaning, determine
 * RI.4**: interpret words and phrases as they are used in a text
 * RI.9-10.1**: Cite strong and thorough textual evidence to support analysis of what the text says
 * RI.9**: analyze how two or more texts address similar themes or topics
 * RI.9-10.2**: Determine a central idea of a text and analyze its development over the course of the text,
 * RL.9-10.4**: Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in the text, including figurative and connotative meanings; analyze the cumulative impact of several word choices on meaning and tone (e.g., how the language evokes a sense of time and place; how it sets a formal or informal tone).
 * RI.9-10.3**: Analyze how the author unfolds an analysis or series of ideas or events, including the order in which the points are made, how they are introduced and developed, and the connections that are drawn between them.
 * RI.10**: read and comprehend complex texts independently and proficiently
 * L.9-10.1**: Demonstrate command of the conventions of Standard English grammar and usage when writing or speaking.
 * W.2**: write explanatory texts to convey ideas and information clearly and accurately
 * W.9**: draw evidence from texts to support analysis
 * W.4**: produce clear and coherent writing
 * W.9-10.1**:Write arguments to support claims in an analysis of substantive topics or texts, using valid reasoning and relevant and sufficient evidence.
 * W.9-10.3**:Write narratives to develop real or imagined experiences or events using effective technique, well-chosen details, and well-structured event sequences.
 * SL.9-10.1**: Initiate and participate effectively in a range of collaborative discussions (one-on-one, in groups, and teacher-led) with diverse partners on grades 9–10 topics, texts, and issues, building on others’ ideas and expressing their own clearly and persuasively.

Suggested Student Objectives

 * Initially approaching and surveying a text
 * Using questions to examine the text’s topic, information, and structure
 * Questioning further to investigate the text
 * Analyzing key details and language to deepen understanding
 * Explaining what one has come to understand as a reader
 * Students learn to use questions to guide their approach to reading, and deeper analysis of texts.
 * Students read and analyze informational texts.
 * Identify and explain the characteristics of a memoir
 * Distinguish between an autobiography and a memoir
 * Identify and explain the effect of stylistic devices used in memoirs

Academic Vocabulary
text-specific summary annotate diction cite supporting detail develop paraphrase structure characterization perspective imagery claim tone guiding questions close reading analyze autobiography memoir

Texts
In Brief: Short Takes on the Personal, editor Mary Jones (McCourt's __Angela's Ashes__ excerpt) //I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings// by Maya Angelou //Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass// by Frederick Douglass //The Pact: Three Young Men Make a Promise and Fulfill a Dream// - Davis, Jenkins, & Hunt

Suggested Additional Readings

 * "A Four Hundred Year Old Woman" (Bharati Mukherjee)
 * "In Search of Our Mothers' Gardens" (Alice Walker)
 * "Learning to Read and Write" (Frederick Douglass)
 * //Notes of a Native Son// (James Baldwin)
 * "A Sketch of the Past" (Virginia Woolf)
 * From "Always Running" (Luis Rodriguez)

**Additional Resources**
//Found on Engageny.org//      //These resources are referenced throughout the activities section of this unit. //

These books are available in the Uniondale High School English Department book room:
 * The following list includes texts with a wide range of complexity which will allow students to read independently at various levels of ability. Independent reading takes place throughout the unit and assessments should occur prior to the end of the unit to allow for peer review and reflection. Students may be assigned or allowed to choose texts based on level of ability and interest.**
 * //Finding Fish: A Memoir -// Antwone Q. Fisher
 * //The Color of Water: A Black Man's Tribute to His White Mother// (memoir) - James McBride
 * //Warriors Don't Cry: A Searing Memoir of the Battle to Integrate Little Rock's Central High// - Melba Patillo Beals
 * //When I Was Puerto Rican// (memoir) - Esmerelda Santiago
 * //Night// (memoir) - Elie Wiesel
 * //The Woman Warrior: Memoirs of a Girlhood Among Ghosts -// Maxine Hong Kingston //(check the library for availability)//
 * //Running in the Family// (memoir)//-//Michael Ondaatje //(check the library for availability)//

Resource Links
[|Engageny.org] Memoir Writing Lesson Plans : University of Missouri Memoir Writing Lesson Plans : ReadWriteThink Memoir Writing Lesson Plans : Web English Teacher Creating Character Blogs : ReadWriteThink Literature Circles: Getting Started : ReadWriteThink Free Lit Circles Lesson Plans : Fun lesson plans

Activities
//Please note: activities build on each other, and so must be done in the order presented.// 1) READ TEXT ALOUD Questioning Texts row of the **GQ Handout**. “What information or ideas does this text present?” 2) Before students re-read the passage independently, direct students to the questions listed under “Language” in the Questioning Texts row of the **GQ Handout**. 3) As a class, students:
 * Activity 1: Reading Closely for Details **
 * Direct students to the questions listed under “Topic, Information, and Ideas” in the
 * As you read the passage (excerpt from Angela’s Ashes) aloud, students think about the question:
 * Identify “Supporting Detail”. Ask students to record/share their responses to the question, making sure that students refer to the text to support their responses.
 * Students think about the question: “What words or phrases stand out to me as I read?”
 * While reading independently, students mark details they notice (electronically or with a pencil/highlighter).
 * Compare the details they have noticed and marked. Discuss what the details suggest to them.
 * Identify any new questions they have after examining and discussing the details.

4) Introduce the concept of a “paraphrase,” and model paraphrasing a sentence from the passage.
 * Individually, students draft a paraphrase of one of the details that stood out to them.

Guiding Question(s): 1-What details stand out to me as I read? 2-What is the author thinking and saying about the topic or theme? 1) What does McCourt mean by “I wonder if this priest is asleep because he's very quiet till he says, My child, I sit here. I hear the sins of the poor. I assign the penance. I bestow absolution. I should be on my knees washing their feet. Do you understand me, my child? I tell him I do but I don't.”? 2) What details help me understand the phrase? 5) Literary Techniques: Introduce characterization, structure, imagery. Students find examples of each in the text. 1) Use the excerpt from Part One, Lesson 2 (Angela’s Ashes excerpt) to model the QT Worksheet. 2) Student pairs continue examining Text #2 with the **Questioning Text** worksheet. 3) Have student pairs use a different guiding question as a lens for examination and come up with related text-specific questions. The key skill to work on is having students frame a good, text-specific question that emerges after students have used the guiding question to identify important information in the text. 4) Use a more challenging, related text (ex: “In Search of our Mothers’ Garden” by Alice Walker). Provide minimal context about the passage before students encounter it. First have them listen to a reading of the text, asking them to concentrate on the author’s message, tone, and use of language. 5) Students independently complete a Questioning Texts Worksheet – but do not yet record a text-specific question in the last row. Provide the guiding questions students will use, or have them select questions from the handout. Emphasize questions related to language use and meaning, having students pay attention to and highlight words and phrases that are critical for understanding the passage and may also be less familiar to them. Focus on academic vocabulary (tone, diction, perspective) – and its relationship to textual meaning.
 * MODEL Test Questioning Sequence**
 * Text-specific Question(s):**
 * Writing Question (2 paragraphs): How does the author use these techniques to develop his theme? Cite specific lines for evidence of your thesis statement.**
 * Activity 2: How Skillful readers approach text and approaching new text **
 * Think-aloud and talk through what you record in each Approaching the Text box.
 * Select one or two questions to focus on from the **Guiding Questions** Handout.
 * Re-read through the text, searching for details related to your guiding question. Model marking and annotating the text.
 * Frame a new, text-specific question that the guiding question draws out of the passage.

a) What do the author’s words cause me to see or feel? b) What ideas stand out to me as I read? c) How do the ideas relate to what I already know?
 * MODEL Test Questioning Sequence:**
 * Guiding Questions**

1) Guide the class through the worksheet identifying your reading purpose and using a text-specific question that emerged from class discussion. The worksheet can also be used with guiding questions or with text-specific questions you provide to students. 2) Read and annotate the text actively, marking, highlighting, or tagging details that are related to the reading purpose and question. 3) Review the details you have marked, looking for “key” details, words, and phrases that relate to your reading purpose and question, and that convey or support a central idea. 4) Record 3 of these key details/phrases from the text in the “Selecting Details” section of the worksheet, indicating the source/location in the “reference “section. 5) Analyze each detail and record your thinking. 6) Connect the details by writing a sentence based on your analysis. 7) Have students all fill in their own worksheet with the information developed as a class. This allows students to get a feel for using the worksheet and provides them with analysis and models in their personal notebooks. 1- What do the author’s words cause me to see or feel? 2-What ideas stand out to me as I read? __Text-specific Question(s):__ 1-What details does Walker provide on page 402 of examples of how “they lay vacant and fallow as autumn fields, with harvest time never in Sight”? 2- On page 407, how does Walker describe the impact of “years of listening to my mother's stories of her life”?
 * Activity 3: Analyzing Text with Text-Specific Questions **
 * Model Text-Questioning Sequence**
 * Guiding Question(s):**

1) Students begin by confirming or revising their text-specific question at the bottom of the 2) Students transfer their question to the **Analyzing Details Worksheet**. 3) Students annotate their texts by highlighting/marking all the details they feel are relevant to their question. 4) Students select three details to analyze, copying them and referencing them in their worksheet. 5) Students analyze the details, recording their thinking. 6) Students connect the details, writing a sentence or two explaining their thinking. 7) Students share their findings in a group discussion, using their worksheets to guide their conversations, and reflect as a group on their process of reading closely, using the **Reading Closely Checklist** as a framework for reflection. For the Walker text, students might be coached to frame a question that looks into the passage as a whole, and that causes them to identify and connect details from across its entirety. For students who are having trouble framing their own questions, you might reference the more generic, text-dependent questions from the last section of the Guiding Questions handout or use a question such as the following as a starter: 1-What information and ideas does Walker give the reader that describe her personal ideas about the true nature of “mothers”? 2-What textual details seem most important in helping us examine her beliefs?
 * Activity 4: Posing Text-Dependent Questions **
 * Questioning Texts Worksheet** for Walker’s “In Search of our Mothers’ Garden”. (This might be done in small groups.) Some questions may be literal –scaffold students’ efforts to pose a question that causes them to re-examine textual details and discover something new about the text.
 * Model Text Questioning Sequence**

In this part of the unit, students will be developing and practicing the skills of writing a detail-based explanation of a text they have read. In this activity, introduce the idea of what a text-based explanation entails, possibly modeling one for McCourt’s __Angela’s Ashes__. Ask students to work from their **Analyzing Details Worksheet** completed in Activity 3 and to write several clear, coherent, and complete sentences that explain something from their analysis of Walker’s “In Search of Our Mothers’ Gardens”, making sure to reference key details they have identified. Connect this writing activity to skills students have been working on with their earlier paraphrasing activities. The primary focus of evaluation at this stage should be on student ability to use questioning to focus their annotation and selection of details. Examine student **Questioning Texts Worksheet** to evaluate the formation of their text-specific questions and their relationship to the guiding questions. Examine their annotated texts and **Analyzing Details Worksheet** to evaluate the relevance of their selected details and their recorded thinking and connections. Evaluate the worksheets for evidence of students’ reading and thinking; examine the short written explanations for their developing writing skills, paying attention to use of evidence and to word choice, punctuation, and grammar. Example: For Alice Walker’s “In Search”, use details from the text (2 paragraphs) to answer: How does Walker use characterization of her ancestors to describe the true nature of mothers?
 * Activity 5: Independent Writing **

Questioning Texts Worksheet Analyzing Details Worksheet 1) Students conduct independent reading on a new text (ex: “Learning to Read and Write” by Douglass). Students complete the first parts of the **Questioning Texts Worksheet**, selecting Guiding Questions that relate to the author’s perspective. 2) Students read the text using their Guiding Questions to focus them on relevant details they can question further. 3) Class discussion: Lead a discussion of the text focusing on difficult sections and key academic vocabulary. Students should draw on details they found related to their Guiding Questions in discussion. 4) Have students develop text-specific questions about key details that emerge in discussion. 5) Re-reading to analyze details: Students work in groups to hone text-specific questions. 6) Students use their question to analyze the text with the **Analyzing Details Worksheet**.
 * Activity 6: Analyzing Details **
 * Resources**

Guiding Question: What is the author saying about the topic or theme? Text-specific Question(s): 1-In paragraph 1, what is the change in his mistress’ character that Douglass described? Why does he say this change occurred? 2-In paragraph 2, Douglass describes that slavery “proved as injurious to her as it did to me”. What details does Douglass provide in that paragraph that describes how this happened? 3-On page 102, how does Douglass describe the interaction with the boys who taught him to read? 4-On page 102, how does reading Sheridan’s speeches on emancipation change the narrator’s mindset? 5- In the conclusion of the excerpt on p 105, Douglass says, “I finally succeeded in learning how to write”. What phrases does he use to explain how he learned how to write?
 * Model Text-Questioning Sequence**

1) Class discussion: Students use their notes and worksheets from Walker’s “In Search” and Douglass’ “Learning to Read and Write” to discuss how each author’s use of language reflects his or her perspective on the subject. 2) Ask students to present evidence from the text to support their assertions, and to connect their comments to the ideas that others have shared. 3) Have students take notes and annotate their text during the conversation, capturing what peers say, how their ideas are changing, or connections/differences between texts. Guiding Question: 1-What are the authors' personal relationships to the topic? 2-What details are most important to the overall meaning of the text? Text-specific Question(s): 1-How do the examples Douglass and Walker use and the way they describe them illustrate differences in their perspective on the effects of racial relations?
 * Activity 7: Analyzing Details Across Texts **
 * Model Text Questioning Sequence**

1) Small group discussion: Students work in groups using their analyses of Walker and Douglass texts to come up with a comparative question. 2) **Writing Comparative Analyses**: Students draw from their notes, worksheets, annotated texts, and sentences from earlier activities to construct a paragraph answering their comparative question. Paragraphs should include:
 * Activity 8: Explaining and Comparing Texts **
 * The comparative question
 * 1-2 sentences explaining their analysis of Walker and key supporting details
 * 1-2 sentences explaining their analysis of Douglass and key supporting details
 * 1-2 sentences explaining a connection they have made between the two texts that answers their comparative question

3) Students construct the paragraph by:
 * Introducing the topic, in this case the comparison made between the texts
 * Organizing their information to clearly and logically express their ideas
 * Developing the topic with appropriate supporting details
 * Linking sentences with appropriate transitional words and phrases to clarify
 * relationships and establish coherence
 * Using precise language and an academic (formal) style of writing.

4) In small groups, students read and peer-review their comparative paragraphs. Prior to submission, an optional revision may be asked of the students based on peer feedback.

5) Students submit paragraphs and their supporting materials.

Students are now ready to read and analyze texts independently- this is a good place to introduce a memoir or novel (similar genres as close reading passages) for reading and analysis. The previous close-reading activities can be repeated for full length texts. 1) Students are assigned a particular memoir or novel. 2) Each student will be responsible for doing a close reading, questioning, analysis, and summary of an excerpt of the text. Guiding Question: 1-What is the author’s personal relationship to the topic? 2- What information/ideas are described in detail? 3- What do the author’s words cause me to see or feel? 4- How do details, information or ideas change across the text?
 * Activity 9: Independent Reading **
 * Model Text Questioning Sequence**

Text Specific Questions (Alexie’s Part-Time Indian): 1- According to the first page, what did “too much cerebral spinal fluid” do to the narrator? How does Alexie structure this page so the reader understands how it affected his personality? 2- Based on the first three pages, how does Alexie believe his physical disabilities from “too much cerebral spinal fluid” affected his relationship to others in his community? 3- In the final section of the chapter, how does the narrator see his disabilities in relation to his desire to be an artist?

3) **Independent Writing**: Using one text, Students write a multi-paragraph explanation, using textual evidence that explains:
 * A central idea of the text and how it is developed across it
 * What the central idea demonstrates about the author’s perspective on the topic
 * What they have come to understand about the topic from the text.

The multi-paragraph explanations students draft in Part 4 should be reviewed closely as evidence of their close reading skills (and, to a lesser extent, as a formative assessment of their explanatory writing skills). At this point, students should be able to: • Describe accurately central ideas of a text • Explain observations about the author’s perspective • Identify something they have learned from their reading that is clearly text-related • Reference details related to each of these writing purposes**.**
 * Assessment Focus**:

Assessments
Writing Questions: Explanatory/ Claim-based Writing 1) (2 paragraphs): How does the author use literary techniques to develop his/her theme? Cite specific lines for evidence of your thesis statement. 2) (Final Assessment for Unit) Using one text, Students write a multi-paragraph explanation, using textual evidence that explains: Write a memoir (perhaps after the style of one of those read) recounting a specific person, place, experience, event, day, moment, work of art, or another specific thing and convey its significance to you. You may, if you choose, include multimedia to your presentation.
 * A central idea of the text and how it is developed across it
 * What the central idea demonstrates about the author’s perspective on the topic
 * What they have come to understand about the topic from the text.
 * Writing Extension: Narrative Writing (Memoir)